Visions: The Mystical Encounter Series (The Mystical Encounter Series Book 1) (3 page)

A small chuckle escaped as I remembered my response. Instead of playing it cool or even pretending to be appreciative, all I said in return was a generic thank–you. Then I turned around and discounted him, as if he wasn’t important. I didn’t even bother with introductions, which I thoroughly regret now, since I still didn’t know his name.
Why couldn’t I have come up with a proper “thanks?”
I cringed at the thought of him thinking I must be the biggest snob.

No, I certainly hadn’t been trying to make friends. Living in my own personal bubble, I think I’d grown accustomed to the contentment. That was where I was most comfortable. I guess I needed to get out of my comfort zone and try. The next time an opportunity like that arises, I was going to make an honest effort. Maybe then Mother would back off. Of course, I probably wouldn’t have made that resolution had I known an opportunity would present itself so fast.

~~~~~

As I stepped out of the school’s front doors the following day, I heard a male voice yell from behind me. “Heather, wait up, I’ll walk with you.” Confused as to who would know my name, let alone yell for me, I stopped and slowly turned around. Surprisingly, the guy with the notes from my physics class was jogging to catch up to me. With the sun shining brightly, rays cascading off of him, I inhaled a breath as this gorgeous creature ran toward me. I couldn’t do anything else but stare at him. It took a minute for me to collect myself. I knew he was hot when I first noticed him the other day in class, but I had suppressed that thought as quickly as it appeared. I mean, I’d never pined over boys before.
What’s the use?
Boyfriends were for other people, not me. But watching him run toward me, unlike all of my previous encounters, I couldn’t help but think there was something special about him.

Quickly trying to dismiss lingering thoughts of his hotness level, I was left standing there, wondering why he would want to walk with me. After being indifferent toward him the other day, I found it rather odd he would want anything to do with me. I wanted to run away, but reminded myself about the resolution I made last night, and remained standing. It was hard. It took every ounce of energy I had to fight the urge to escape.

“Hey,” he said as he caught up to me. With his half–grin, he extended his hand out offering to shake hands. “Barry,” he said as he introduced himself to me. “We haven’t officially met.”

Mesmerized by his smile, it took me a second to realize what he was doing. Forcing myself to quit staring at his face, I glanced down toward his extended hand. A different type of fear filtered its way through me, filling in all my crevices. A handshake was normally just a polite greeting between two individuals. But he had no way of knowing it caused an overwhelming amount of anxiety deep inside of me. Still staring at his hand, I blurted out, “Heather.” Hoping he didn’t notice my hesitation, against my better judgment, I went ahead and shook his hand.

Warmth spread throughout my body at his touch, causing me to quickly let go. My anxiety level was at an all–time high, but I tried to appear calm. I was sure I looked like an idiot who had never shaken hands before.

Luckily though, other than throwing a quizzical glance my way, he seemed to discard my erratic behavior. I could imagine what was going through his head, but he certainly didn’t act like it fazed him any. “I’m headed in the same direction. You live next to my grandma’s house,” he clarified. “I saw you move in a few weeks ago.”

“Oh…, I haven’t met any of my neighbors yet.” I stumbled around on my words. Feeling guilty, because I didn’t socialize with anyone, I suddenly felt the need to come up with an excuse for not meeting his grandma. “We’ve been kind of busy, fixing up the house since the move,” I added, hoping he bought it. I told myself it wasn’t a complete lie since we had been slowly fixing it up.

“Yeah…, that house sat empty for years. Ever since…,” Pausing, he winced while running his hands through his hair. It was brief, but sadness overshadowed his face while he hesitated. But he recovered quickly, making me question what I saw. “Well, awhile anyway. Seeing the house occupied again is good.” His gaze shifted downward, with a shrug.

“Thanks,” I replied, wondering if that was the proper response. Intrigued as to what he was going to say, I wondered how he would’ve finished the sentence. My curiosity was piqued by his hesitation and peculiar reaction, but I dropped it. Prying into people’s business was totally what I wanted to avoid. It was the safest route.

The corners of his lips spread into a shy smile as he looked at me. As we began walking down the sidewalk, I mentally sighed in relief as he steered the conversation toward safer topics. It wasn’t long, unfortunately, before he asked the inevitable. “So, what town did you move from?”

The rest of the walk home was spent with us talking about Clayton, the town I came from, as well as the life happenings of this place. Barry was actually pretty cool, easy enough to talk to, anyway. I hadn’t carried on a conversation that intense with someone my age for a long time. In fact, I didn’t even remember the last time I actually had a real conversation with anyone other than my therapist, or Mother.

I must admit, it felt kind of nice. A feeling l had long forgotten.

Keeping the answers about myself kind of vague, he finally touched on the topic I didn’t want to discuss, friends. Fabricating a story about them, I pretended it was hard being separated from them, but keeping in touch through the Internet and texting had helped.

That seemed to appease him, but I felt a little guilty lying to him. I was used to telling people what they wanted to hear, I’d done that practically my whole life, but with Barry it didn’t feel right for some reason. For the first time in my life, it just felt wrong.

When we arrived at the end of the sidewalk leading up to my front porch, I motioned toward the house. “My exit,” I simply said.

Appearing a little unsure, he glanced toward the house while taking a deep breath. As he slowly exhaled, he turned back toward me, staring directly into my eyes. I was unsure what his expression meant. The unsettling declaration in his eyes expressed he wanted to say more, but he remained quiet. After pausing for just a couple of more seconds, he finally said, “Thanks for letting me walk with you. It was nice getting to know you better. Next time, I’ll have my car back from the shop and I’ll be able to give you a ride.” He half grinned, making me catch my breath again. Staring back at him, I seemed to get lost in his entire face. I really didn’t understand what, or where, that feeling derived from, but when he smiled like that I couldn’t help but want to get to know him better. He was totally hot. I wasn’t blind, but it seemed more than just superficial attractiveness. It was a much deeper feeling, more genuine. I hadn’t felt like that before.

“I’ll hold you to that,” I said, smiling back at him despite myself.
Where did that answer come from, and why, all of a sudden, did I have tons of confidence?

“All right then,” he said, grinning. He started to take off for his grandmother’s house, but stopped and turned toward me. With a sly grin, he added, “Hey…, I’ll look you up during lunch tomorrow, and introduce you to some of my friends.”

And with that simple sentence, reality came crashing back. Forcing a smile, I replied, “That would be great.” I hoped he didn’t pick up on my sudden mood shift, but meeting his friends was the last thing that interested me. I was sure anyone in my position would be elated to have a totally hot guy take his time to make sure they’re welcomed, but I felt I’d put forth enough effort for the week. The last thing I wanted to do was pretend to be interested in multiple people.

“Sweet…‌I’ll see you tomorrow.” With a little wave, he flashed a quick smile. His eyes drifted toward my house, causing his smile to drop for a second, before they settled back on me. He smiled again, but it was strained. After adjusting his backpack, he turned and headed for his grandma’s house.

As I lingered there an extra second, I watched him walk away before heading up my own sidewalk. Slowly, I turned to walk up my stairs, still feeling a bit confused. I liked Barry, that part was pretty clear. He was nice and seemed genuine. Not to mention he was definitely gorgeous. With his tall, slender build, and untidy, sandy–blond hair, he would be on anyone’s radar. His perfect jaw–line and those warm, hazel eyes definitely set him apart from other guys. But his smile was completely mesmerizing. The sole problem was me. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to become friends with anyone. I’d been solo for a long time and letting people get close scared me.
What if I become friends with people here and then my visions start again?
It would be just like the last time all over again minus the actual having friends part.

Doubt began to sink in quickly as I thought maybe it would be best to keep a safe distance. Besides, with one school year left anyway, what was the point of even trying? Quickly talking myself out of meeting his friends tomorrow, I snapped to the present.

Before tomorrow could happen, I would have to face my next step, Mother. She was home because I noticed her car parked in the driveway. I was sure she saw me walking beside Barry, which probably raised her interest. I groaned inwardly as I headed inside for the interrogation I knew would begin.

~3~

The Toy

“I’m home,” I yelled as I walked through the doorway. The entryway mirror caught my reflection, making me pause as I stood there staring. I tilted my head to the side as I studied a little deeper, wondering what I was getting worked up about. There wasn’t any way he’d find me attractive because I was just like every other girl. The one thing separating me from all of the other girls that sported long brown hair was the hint of red highlights that’s naturally sprinkled throughout mine. My eyes were darker brown than most, about the color of espresso, but other than that, there wasn’t anything special about me.

“In here, honey. Can you hold these curtains while I drape them around the rod?”

“Just a sec,” I answered as I glanced one more time at my reflection. Knowing there wasn’t anything I could do to change my appearance; I scrunched my face into a goofy pose before childishly sticking my tongue out. I’d never cared about my appearance before, and I wasn’t going to start now. Determined to stop worrying about it, I walked into the living room to help Mom. As I dropped my book bag down on the couch, my thoughts kept drifting back to Barry. Mentally replaying him running toward me brought an unmistakable warming sensation deep in my chest. My cheeks flushed at the memory of the sun cascading off his tanned body, causing a small smile to escape. I didn’t understand what that meant, but I found myself conflicted. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea to meet some of his friends. After all, it was the part of my resolution that I had to keep reminding myself about.

As if reading my mind, Mom tried keeping her tone even as she asked, “Who was that guy you were walking with?” She didn’t do a very good job at being nonchalant because her voice was laced with curiosity.

I audibly sighed before replying. “Barry. He’s in my physics class. His car is being worked on, so he walked home with me since he was going to his grandma’s house. I guess she lives right next door to us.”

“Oh, that’s nice,” she stated, still trying to appear indifferent. But I could imagine the wheels turning in her head and sense her pleasure at the sight of me talking to someone. “Maybe he can introduce you to some of his friends.”

“One step ahead of you, Mom. He told me he would tomorrow at school.” I concentrated on the fabric in my hand, wishing she would drop the subject. I hated discussing friends with Mother since she desperately wanted me to have them. Yet the outcome was always the same‌—‌disappointment.

“That’s great. It’s just what you need,” she stated confidently. With the content expression she wore, I was sure she thought we’d already benefited from the move. Who knows, maybe we had, and I was just too stubborn to admit it.

Wanting to retreat to my bedroom, I handed her the last part of the drapery and started walking away. When I went to pick up my book bag, I noticed a faded blue toy truck lying harmlessly against my bag.
How odd.
Curious as to what it was doing here, I asked, “What’s with the toy truck?”

“Oh, I found it while cleaning out the hallway closet. It’s kind of cute, but well used. I thought about bringing it to work to see if somebody’s child would want it, but I’m afraid the condition is too rough. I’ll probably just throw it out.”

Intrigued, I bent down to inspect it closer. Mom was right; it had been played with a lot. By the way the toy was banged–up; the child must have really enjoyed playing with it. Further examining the dents and scratches, I decided they were placed there by some little boy’s passion for his toys. I couldn’t help but smile as I thought of old Pinchers. Pinchers was a stuffed lobster that I had carried everywhere with me. Where I went, Pinchers went. I would have been devastated to have moved out of my house then later realized Pinchers was left behind.

I didn’t know why but either out of curiosity, or just plain stupidity, I reached down to pick up the truck. As soon as my fingers grabbed a hold of the banged–up metal, a picture of a little boy around seven years old flashed through my mind. He was outside playing, smiling up at me. His smiles turned quickly into tears as a wave of sadness and fear overcame my body.

I dropped the toy as if it was on fire and inhaled a deep breath. As I stood completely still, I tried blocking out what I had witnessed. My plan was futile, for I knew it was too late. The vision had already been planted.

“What’s the matter?” Mom asked apprehensively, all her confidence from earlier quickly fading away as her stare bored into my back.

“Nothing,” I replied, trying to sound reassuring, but my voice was shaky, giving away my lack of composure. With my back still to her, she couldn’t see my expression, but she knew anyway. She wasn’t stupid. “I’m going outside for a minute,” I stated, not waiting for her to answer as I snatched up my handbag and hurried toward the backdoor.